Protective carrying case



May 29, 1962 R. E. HUBER PROTECTIVE CARRYING CASE Filed Jan. 2, 1958 A-rrvs United States Patent Ofifice 3,635,599 Patented May 29, 1962 3,036,699 PROTECTIVE CARRYING CASE Robert E. Huber, Pforzheim, Germany, assignor to Nordette, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Jan. 2, 1958, Ser. No. 706,729 4 Claims. (Cl. 206-16.5)

It is another object to provide a protective case of the above type that is compact and attractive and which may be easily and conveniently carried in the pocket of the user.

taken longitudinal- FIG. 1.

On the contrary, I intend to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Turning now to the drawings, there is shown a carrying case It embodying the present invention being utilized to support and protect an elongated object such as a medical thermometer 11, only a portion of which is shown. It will be noted that in outer configuration the case preferably resembles superficially a writing instrument of the retractable writing point type. Thus, the case 16 comprises a pencil-shaped barrel having a tapered end portion 12a with a bottom opening 13, a pocket clip 14, and an upper cap 15 from which a push button 16 projects.

Pursuant to the invention, a carrier 17 adapted to resiliently grip a thermometer-like instrument is slidably supported in the barrel 12 and is biased away from the barrel opening 13, and a manually operated control is coupled to the carrier so that by operating the control the carrier may be slid against its biasing force toward the barrel opening. In this way the end of a thermometerlike instrument gripped by the carrier is projected from the opening 13 in the barrel so that the instrument may be grasped by the user and withdrawn. In the illustrated embodiment, the carrier 17 takes the form of a gripping tube into the tube through the split end portions 19, the thermometer is restrained from potentially harmful vibration.

In order to bias the gripping tube 18 away from the 2 barrel opening 13, a helical spring 21 is disposed within the barrel 12 so as to surround the lower split end of the The carrier 17 is thus resiliently urged away from the opening 1'3 and against the end of the cap 15 which serves as an abutment stop for the carrier.

It should be noted that the helical spring 21 not only resiliently biases the carrier 1'7 in the desired direction, but also is effective to floatingly mount the lower end of the carrier. The floating mounting of the carrier results from the spnng 21 being interposed between the carrier and the surrounding barrel 12, and the fact that the spring urges the carrier upwardly against the cap 15. Movement of the carrier is, therefore, restricted to movement toward the barrel opening 13, and, since this movement is resiliently opposed by the spring 21, the effect is one of a floating, spring mounting for the carrier. This minimizes the likelihood of shock damage to an instrument supported by the carrier 17, even in the event the case It is inadvertently dropped.

In the present embodiment, the manually operated control for sliding the carrier 17 when it is desired to withof a push button barrel opening 13. Releasing the push button 16 permits the helical spring 21 to reposition the carrier 17 in its withdrawn position abutting the end of the cap 15.

Preferably, the extended length of the push button 16, that is the length of this member which the tips of a persons fingers. eter 11 may be fully inserted no portion extends outwardly through the opening 13 to be exposed to possible damage. When it is desired to withdrawn the thermometer 11 from the case 10, the push button 1a is fully depressed so as to extend the thermometer 11 from the barrel opening 13 a distance equalling the extended length'of the push button. By selecting the length of the push button as stated above, it can be seen that the thermometer 11 will be projected from the barrel opening 13 a distance permitting it to be readily grasped by the tips of a persons fingers.

In order to facilitate economical, rapid and efiicient production of the case 10, the cap 15 is screw-threaded onto the top of the barrel 11 and the pocket clip 14 is formed with an integral, annular mounting ring 31 which is adapted to be sandwiched between the barrel 12 and the cap 15 when they are assembled. It can thus be seen that assembling the case 10 is simply a matter of dropping the helical spring 21 down into the barrel 12 through the In this way, the thermomwithin the barrel 12 so that to into the barrel mounting ring 31 of the clip 14 over the top end of the barrel and screwing the cap 15 firmly down onto the mounting ring. Not only are the parts making up the case It) readily adapted for rapid and efiicient assembly, but it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the parts taken individually may be quite economically formed.

As is apparent in FIG. 1, the case 10 presents a trim, atits shape, together with the pocket clip 14, permits it to be readily and easily carried. The complete shielding and resilient support of the thermometer 11 assures that the instrument is carried with the minimum danger of possible damage. Despite the complete protection of the instrument, the thermometer is instantly available for use by simply holding the case 10 and pressing the push button 16 (see FIG. 2), whereupon the thermometer 11 can be directly grasped and put into use.

1 claim as my invention:

1. In combination, a tubular barrel having a thermometer receiving opening at one end, a gripping tube slidably supported in said barrel, a helical spring surrounding an end of said tube and interposed between the barrel and the tube for biasing the latter away from said barrel opening, said spring thus fioatingly mounting said tube, said tube having means for resiliently gripping for easy removal 21 medical thermometer inserted therein through said barrel opening, a thermometer fitted into said tube, and a manually-operated control for sliding said tube against said spring toward said barrel opening so as to project an end of said thermometer from the opening in said barrel.

2. In combination, a tubular, pencil-shaped barrel having a thermometer receiving opening at one end, a pocket clip secured to the side of said barrel, a gripping tube slidably supported in said barrel, a spring interposed between the tube and the barrel for biasing said tube away from said barrel opening, said tube having means for resiliently gripping for easy removal a medical thermometer inserted therein through said barrel opening, a thermometer fitted into said tube, and a manually-operated push button coupled to said tube for sliding the latter against the force of said spring toward said barrel opening so as to project an end of said thermometer from the opening in said barrel.

3. Incombination, a pencil-shaped tubular barrel having a tapered bottom end with a thermometer receiving opening therein, a cap secured on the top end of said barrel, a gripping tube slidably supported in said barrel and having means for resiliently gripping for easy removal a medical thermometer inserted therein through said barrel opening, a thermometer fitted into said tube, aproiection extending from the outer surface of said tube, a helical spring fitted within said barrel and surrounding said tube, said spring being compressed between the tapered end of said barrel and said projection so as to bias said tube away from said barrel opening and against said cap, and a push button coupled to said tube and extending opening to said to a distance su grasped by the tips 0 pressure on th of said spring an end of the th opening in the barre drawing the thermometer.

through an aper of said thermome it may be grasped 4. A protective carr eter comprising, in com barrel having a tapered botto receiving opening therein, top end of sai said barrel by a tween said barr supported in sai siliently gripping through said barr said tube, an ann of said tube, a he surrounding said tub tween the tapered e said tube so as to and against said cap,

be and extending through References Cited ture in said cap so that manual pressure ll slide the tube aga d barrel opening an ter from the opening in for withdrawing the the ying case for a me bination, a pencild thus project an end the barrel where dical thermomshaped tubular m end with a thermometer w-threaded onto the pocket clip mount n integral mounting ring sa and said clip, a gripping d barrel and havi a medical thermo ng a split en meter inserted therein ermometer fitted into to the outer surface thin said barrel and being compressed beand the grommet on In said barrel e1 opening, a th lar grommet fixed lical spring fitted e, said spring bias said tube away fro and a push button coup an aperture in said cap e button to be easily gers so that manual be against the force (1 thus project ube from the be grasped for withfiicient to permit th f a persons fin will slide the tu toward said barrel opening an ermometer gripped l where it may inthefile of this patent UNITED STATES'PATENTS Landau Mar. 31, 1936 Oct. 10, 1950 May 8, 1951 Feb. 19, 1952 July 15, 1952 June 5, 1956 Dec. 25, 1956 Aug. '13, 1957 Lynn Wahl Weber et al. Fischer Lovejoy Sams Q Germann FOREIGN PATENT Italy Sept.20, 1955 

